Halloween is More Funny Than Scary In St. Louis
Having grown up with this, I had no idea this wasn’t more widely practiced. I have always had a bad memory, so I blew a lot of punchlines and this was a bit stressful for me. Did the rest of you just get to go to a door and get free candy without having to perform?
(I’m kind of upset about being pushed from door to door and being one of the neighborhood’s performing monkeys. And not getting the chance to force kids to do the same now.)
dogmic 
Yeah, I keep forgetting, too. At work yesterday, somebody mentioned that they were taking their child out trick-or-treating without a costume. I said, “He better have a good joke.” The response was cordial, but I got the sense that I was not understood.
They probably thought you were implying that their child was ugly, not in the good way for trick-or-treating, and they would need some way to get on the candy-giver’s good side.
Also, this is my favorite tradition of Halloween. First you have to find a joke, then you have to clear it with your “adventuring party” to make sure no two jokes were the same, then you have to tell it to Grandpa. If Grandpa didn’t know the joke, you know you had a good one!
Halloween joke books were huge sellers in St. Louis and a hot ticket item at libraries. If other cities didn’t tell jokes, what were they for?!? “Chicken cross the road” jokes were made for Halloween, how do so many people know them if they didn’t use them specifically for trick-or-treating?!?
Exactly my question!
I bet they do the opposite in Australia. The door opener has to tell a joke, or get viciously assaulted. (Something to do with the Coriolis effect). Just like East St. Louis.